XP Deus Forum

Can anybody give me any info regarding
how Deus stacks up to Minelab? The Deus
Ads are very interesting, but I would
prefer to hear from experienced detectorists
who have used both before I make a decision
to buy or not. I have used a Minelab XS Explorer
for many years, and have been very happy with it, especially at the beach,but at my age it’s getting
too heavy after an hour or two of detecting.
The Deus ads indicate that depth is as good
as the Minelab. What say you experts? :-)

I have been metal detecting since the early 70's. I am no expert by no means but have enjoyed the hobby several years. I hunt relics which is not beach hunting but has the same effect on the old shoulder---I presume. I had an e-trac and an explorer xs. They are definitely good metal detectors but you will just love the XP Deus. Watch the youtube videos with Gary the XP man and use his programs. This will get you started. You will begin having fun again with this great hobby. Check with Chuck at Indian Nations. He'll fix you right up and you will not be disappointed with the XP Deus..........Watch some of Calabash Digger's videos. This will give an idea of the tones for ferous vs. unferous.............

Both great machines and both have their advantages - this is just my opinion ...

I've had my Minelab E-Trac for 8 years - it is beyond a doubt, one of the best machines ever made - dug over 12,000 coins, relics and pieces of jewelry with mine.
Bought my Deus 2 1/2 years ago - I've used it over 95% of the time since the day I got it ( I wanted to learn the machine and I have an old shoulder injury ).

I have owned every model Explorer, beach, parks, relic hunting have done it all with that machine. The Deus will be a shock to your system at first. The Explorer has far superior target ID accuracy plus the added 2nd axis of Ferrous/non-Ferrous target information the Deus lacks. Even when it provides an ID (on deeper targets it won't even guess) the ID gets iffy and jumps around at depths where ID is still solid on the Explorers. So that's the main adjustment you would have to make Deus vs Explorer. I'm using multi tones which are pretty good with reactivity at 1. Deus sucks ass at dealing with rusty crown caps where on the Explorer they are a non issue, notch them out and done. The crown caps overlay the coin ID on Deus making this worse. So would not be my machine for a site that has a lot of crown caps. Yes there are techniques for figuring out if its a crown cap or not but you would waste LOT of time inspecting crown cap targets vs zero time on the Explorer, slowing down your hunt considerably.

On the plus side the Deus is deep, even deeper than Explorer in highly mineralized soil where I'm hunting now on the west coast. Explorer struggles with this soil Deus pretty much ignores it, just GB and go about your business. I'm using the 9 inch HF round coil. Deus will slam small gold the Explorer won't even touch, again I'm talking the 9 inch round HF coil at 54 kHz. I assembled a bunch of small gold targets for testing, Deus hit them all, Explorer hit none of them even if you rubbed them on the coil. So to trip up the Deus I went over to the we buy gold place and purchased some more difficult gold targets, small gold chains, gold stud earrings, again the Deus hit them all Explorer none of them. I have not tested the Deus on a wet salt water beach, but in the dry sand it should be great.

Alternatively the same 9 inch round coil can be switched to 14.4 kHz which is more in line with the Explorer, reactivity 1. I started off with reactivity in the 2-3 range and it wasn't getting the depth I would have expected vs an Explorer, reactivity 1 fixed that. Also good targets were easier to pick out by ear based on the size of the target as you sweep it being larger, wider, fuller. Where reactivity 2 and above all the targets trash and coins seemed small and the same size. So save the higher reactivity for those rusty nail hell holes, its nice to have that option but I'd be using reactivity 1 when possible as a first choice. Being able to switch between frequencies without having to switch machines or coils that's cool, Deus is more of an all in one detector in that respect you can reconfigure on the fly out in the field.

Deus is light. I'm turning 55 in a few days and just can't swing the 5 lb Minelabs anymore especially after recent hip and back surgeries. I can swing the Deus for 2.5 hours and never notice any pain or soreness in my arm or shoulder its that light. Also loving the elimination of the cord tangle, its all wireless, love it.

Deus is much sharper in iron. If an iron target seems to be 6 inches wide as you sweep it with an Explorer it will seem more like 2-3 inches with a Deus. Ditto for all targets. I swung a Deus for a couple weeks then took my Se Pro out and the difference was so obvious, all targets seemed large on the Se Pro vs the Deus I was wishing I had brought the Deus that day honestly because everything on the Se Pro seemed like a wider gooey blob where everything was clear and focused with the Deus.

QuoteE-TRAC-OHIO
Both great machines and both have their advantages - this is just my opinion ...

I've had my Minelab E-Trac for 8 years - it is beyond a doubt, one of the best machines ever made - dug over 12,000 coins, relics and pieces of jewelry with mine.
Bought my Deus 2 1/2 years ago - I've used it over 95% of the time since the day I got it ( I wanted to learn the machine and I have an old shoulder injury ).

QuoteJBM1
Dues every time for this old fella.Mine even located me one of Americas rarest colonial coins in the UK. Jerry.

Yeah, yeah yeah, rub it in Jerry Bad enough you just have to walk out your back door and start finding hammies and romans and medieval, and iron age and celtic etc, etc. You just had to go a find a RARE Baltimore shilling as well !!! You could have at least been kind enough to find on this side of the pond.